Green Curry Chicken

Why it works

A green curry is only as good as its paste and how you fry it. Cracking the coconut cream first, so the oil separates, gives you a fat to fry the paste in, and that frying step is what turns a raw, grassy paste into something round and deep. Thai eggplant adds a slightly bitter crunch that balances the sweetness of the coconut.

Method

1. Spoon the thick cream from the top of the can into a pot (about ½ cup). Simmer over medium heat, stirring, until it thickens and you see beads of oil separating out, 5 to 8 minutes.
2. Add the curry paste and fry in the cream for 3 to 4 minutes, until it darkens slightly and smells toasted rather than raw.
3. Add the chicken and stir to coat in the paste. Cook until the outside turns opaque.
4. Pour in the rest of the coconut milk and the stock. Add the eggplants, fish sauce and palm sugar. Simmer gently for 12 to 15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked and the eggplant is tender but not collapsed.
5. Taste. It should lead with salty and aromatic, with sweetness behind it. Adjust with fish sauce or sugar.
6. Turn off the heat and stir in the lime leaves, spur chilies and basil. Serve with jasmine rice or over thin rice noodles (khanom jeen).

Notes and substitutions

• Store-bought paste runs saltier than homemade. Start with 2 tbsp if using Mae Ploy and add fish sauce at the end.
• For a vegetarian version, swap chicken for firm tofu and use a paste without shrimp paste, then season with soy sauce instead of fish sauce.